Railway track ballast tamper



Dec. 20, 1966 E. E. OVlLLE 3,292,558

RAILWAY TRACK BALLAST TAMPER Filed Jan. 21. 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 fin? 2 5 Dec. 20, 1966 I E. E. OVILLE 3,292,558

RAILWAY TRACK BALLAST TAMPER Filed Jan. 21, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 20, 1966 E. E. OVILLE 3,292,558

RAILWAY TRACK BALLAST TAMPER Filed Jan. 21, 1965 V 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 3,292,558 RAILWAY TRACK BALLAST TAMPER Eugene Emile Oville, Lausanne, Switzerland, assignor to Matisa Materiel Industriel S.A., Lausanne, Switzerland,

a corporation of Switzerland Filed Jan. 21, 1965, Ser. No. 427,045 Claims priority, application Switzerland, Jan. 27, 1964, 933/64 6 Claims. (Cl. 10410) The present invention relates to a ballast tamper for a railway track, including at least one vertically movable frame and on which are mounted tools vibrating under the action of a vibrator and controlled to effect a work stroke corresponding to their approach towards and their movement away from a sleeper, and also controlled so as to be raised into a withdrawn position within the railway gauge.

In this line, one knows of high performance tampers the tools of which, provided with picks, are fixed to rigid tool-holders, in the shape of levers hinged on two pivots, the one connected by a rod to the eccentric of a shaft rotating on a vertically movable frame, the other pivot sliding horizontally on this frame either by a hydraulic jack, or by a screw-nut assembly actuated by a motor. Generally, the said movable frame comprises pairs of toolholders which face each other on either side of the eccentric shaft, that is to say of the sleeper to be tamped, these pairs of tool-holders being disposed on each side of the line of rails. In this arrangement, the connecting rods remain substantially horizontal and the tool-holders, vertical in the mean position, can be but very slightly inclined due to the small stroke tolerable [for the sliding of the pivot. In fact, it is obvious that in lengthening the stroke, one would bring about the alignment of the two pivots on the eccentric, and thus an inadmissible flexing. It is observed that such an effect already occurs for small inclinations, which useless'ly overloads the construction, moreover strongly acted upon by the vibrations of imposed amplitude, by the shocks of the picks penetrating into the ballast, etc.

Such a sliding pivot system thus only allows a very small unevening of'the picks during their stroke, which was the aim sought after, but which in use entails serious drawbacks.

A first difiiculty presents itself when tamping the double sleepers which are disposed at the rail ends. The limited opening of the pair of tools has for result that the picks grip less ballast than normally, especially when the sleepers are slightly separated. The tamping carried out is thus less good at one point where on the contrary it should be better. In order to overcome this, it is then necessary to repeat the tamping cycle, from which considerable loss of time.

One is faced with another difiiculty when the sleepers are oblique relative to the track. Since the picks occupy a relatively large width of the track, they are then askew on each side of the sleeper, whence an irregular tamping.

In open track, these so-called production tampers encounter fairly often on their travel gullies, track apparatus, etc., obstacles adjacent to which it becomes diflicult if not impossible to obtain an efficient packing.

Finally, the use of these machines as switch tampers obviously cannot be taken into consideration.

To avoid these difi'iculties, one has recently proposed to hinge the above mentioned lever-tools s0 as to be able to move the pick transversely to the track by means of an auxiliary lateral jack. This arrangement, advantageous at first sight, in reality gives rise to various disadvantages of which one will merely cite the most important.

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The mere fact of moving laterally a pick practically eliminates the possibility of disposing two side by side, on either side of a line of rails when, as experience has shown, it is necessary to have a suflicient tamping Width. Since a pick of double width is not desirable if one really wishes to avoid the obstacles and that in addition it would give rise to too much distortion of the movable frame and of its members, one is led to use only one pick and to move transversely to the track the whole frame already vertically movable.

From this there results that a switch tamper is no longer valid as a production tamper for work on open track, since its efliciency is reduced by half.

Another consequence of tamping by transverse movement of the frame, one uselessly obstructs in crossings and switches two tracks instead of one, whence considerable hindering in railroad exploitation, especially in stations where tratfic is dense and the time intervals afforded for tamping are very short.

If, in order to gain time, one provides a movable frame per line of rails, it is necessary to have two tampers to deal with crossings and switches, instead of a single operator on open track. This supplementary tamper must coordinate exactly his rhythm of work with that of the first tamper in order to avoid a fall in the general performance, if not incomplete tamping.

From the point of view of construction, one imagines without difliculty the immense complication of horizontally and vertically movable frames, with all the suitable members: guiding, jack or motor actuating devices, control and regulating members, etc., etc., without taking into account the harmful influence on the mechanisms of the additional inertia forces and of the tamping forces thus decentred.

One finally recalls that on all high efficiency modern tampers, one nowadays requires automatic levelling and straightening devices, that it is therefore extremely dif-' ficult, if not impossible, to adapt to machines of the kind last described.

One has also considered telescopic tool-holders, but one is not aware of any practical production because their construction is faced with almost insurmountable difficulties, in particular, inordinate dimensions, exaggerated flexion stresses, strong contact pressures, sliding elements exposed to the shocks of stones projected during tamping,

. and above all serious damage, if not total destruction, in

the case of a sharp accidental stopping of the pick against an obstacle on the track.

One is finally cognizant of frame tampers vibrating under the action of unbalance, but their tool-holders are interconnected mechanically so that it is not possible to separate them during service. These machines therefore present the cited disadvantages.

Itis obvious, in view of what precedes, that it would be of the highest interest to be able to ally the advantagesof :a production tamper with those of a switch tamper without the disadvantages thereof.

The present invention aims as it happens at providing a tamper which allies these advantages and which is characterized in that each tool is integral with a first rigid member hinged at two different points, respectively on a second rigid member and on one of the elements of an individual control jack, this jack bein-g itself also hinged, by its. other element, to the second rigid member, the three hinge points forming a triangle deformable solely under the action of the jack, to ensure the work stroke of the tools and the raising of the latter into a withdrawn position, and inversely, this triangle being mechanically connected to the vibrator so :as to be vibrate-d,

a connection authorizing this vibration.

The accompanying drawing shows, diagrammatically and partially, by way of examples, several embodiments of the tamper according to the invention.

FIG. 1 shows a side view thereof, with partial sections, of a first embodiment with eccentric vibrator and cylinder and piston hydraulic jack.

FIG. 2 is a section along 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side view thereof, with partial sections, of a second embodiment showing the use of a screw jack, with motor, as well as another method of fixing the toolholder on the frame.

FIG. 4 is a section along 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a general lateral view of a tamping vehicle equipped with the said first embodiment of the tamper.

FIG. 6 is a side view thereof, with partial sections, of a third embodiment including two simplified tool-holders, with dynamic balancing, disposed side by side, and vibrating in synchronism through the action of an eccentric.

FIG. 7 is a front view thereof with sections along 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 shows, in side view, with partial sections, a fourth embodiment including two tool-holders, with inner dynamic balancing, disposed face to face and vibrating in synchronism under the action of an unbalanced element.

In FIG. 1, one sees a tool-holder including a lever 1 hinged at 2 .to a double lever 3,'itself hinged at 4 to the rod 5 of a piston 6 sliding in a cylinder 7 the head of which is hinged at 8 in the fork 9 of the lever 1.

1 carries the tool 10 with a .pick 11 adapted to be driven into the ballast 12 on which rest the sleepers 13 which support a rail 14. The double lever 3 pivots at 15 between two walls 16 constituting a frame sliding, by meansof its vertical guide 17 of rectangular section, along a column 18 carried by the front part of a railway vehicle shown in FIG. 5.

The said movable frame carries an eccentric shaft 19 coupled by a connecting rod 20 pivoting at its end between the sides of the double lever.

Not shown in the drawing (because very easy to imagine) are the means necessary to actuate the rotation of the eccentric shaft, and the hydraulic control of the jack 5, 6, 7. The jack 100 (FIG. 5) actuates the fall and the rise of the movable frame.

The arrangement which has just been described for One tool is repeated for the various other tools not shown of the tamper. Each of the jacks 5, 6, 7 is therefore individually controlled.

Each tool istherefore integral with a first rigid memher 1, hinged at two different points, on the one hand at 2 to a second rigid member 3, and on the other hand, at 8 to the element 7 of the jack 5, 6, 7. This jack is itself hinged at 4, by its other member 5, to the second rigid member 3. The three hinge points 2, 4, 8 form a triangle deformable solely under the action of the jack 5, 6, 7. When the piston 6 and the cylinder 7 of the jack remain fixed the one relative to the other, the triangle in question is not deformable under the'infiuence of the vibrations which are communicated thereto by the vibrator and which it transmits tothe tools. On the other hand, the jack occasions, by the relative movement of its members, on the one hand, the closing and opening stroke of the tools and, on the other hand, the raising of the latter into a withdrawn position within the railway gauge, as will be explained in detail a little further on.

The triangle 2, 4, '8 is connected mechanically to the vibrator by the connecting rod 20, to be vibrated. It is connected to the movable frame 16 by a connection authorizing this vibration, that is to say the connecting rod 20 and the hinge 15.

As already stated, the control of the jacks being indi- 4. obstacles (switches, oblique sleepers, double sleepers, gullies, track apparatus, et-c.).

. In the position shown in FIG. 1, the rotating shaft 19 causes the tool-holder to oscillate about 15, due to the oil enclosed in the chambers 22 and 23, which causes the pick 11 to vibrate in a vertical plane and towards the sleeper 13 in service.

If one now causes oil under pressure to penetrate mto one of the chambers, for example 22, while maintaining a sufficient counter-pressure in the other, one deforms the tool-holder, which causes the vibrating pick to move in the ballast. The figure immediately shows that the work stroke may be very considerable provided one makes vidual, thework and the raising of the tools may be a judicious choice of the proportions of the arms of the levers. But one further sees that, the frame being .in the raised position, it is possible to lengthen the said stroke by an empty 'stroke sufficiently long to obtain a considerable raising of the pick, for example to the horizontal position shown in dot and dash lines.

One notes in particular that the same jack thus serve two purposes: positively move the working pick and ensure its raising.

One also observes that in the mean working positionas shown in the drawingthe straight line passing by 2-8 is substantially perpendicular to the one passing by 8-4, with the obvious purpose of effecting a long empty stroke by-a small shortening of the jack.

One mentions that the hinges 2, 4 and 8 of the toolholder do not pivot about themselves under the effect of the vibrations, but solely under the action of the jack, important advantage from the point of view of lubrication and wear.

One finally lays emphasis on the necessity of maintaining a counter-pressure in the hydraulic jack to ensure the transmission of the vibration to the pick.

FIG. 2 reproduoeswith the same designationsa part of the elements shown'in FIG. 1. One sees in particular at 24 the welded brace which prevents the distortion of the double lever 3.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show-with the same references to facilitate the understandingelements of FIGS. 1 and 2. The jack is here constituted by the screw 25 which the pivot 8 prevents from rotating about itself and by the nut 26 integral with a toothed wheel 27 gearing with the pinion 28 of the motor 29. The latter is fixed to the element 30 which forms at 31 a bearing for the cited nut 26, and is provided with pivots 32 and 33 to produce the preceding hinge 4.

In this example, the tool-holder is hinged at 15 by its pick lever 1, which is of advantage for the solidity of the mechanism.

The screw-nut system being irreversible, the tool-holder vibrates as a whole and as previously about 15.

When the motor is running,it causes the nut to rotate, which further deforms the triangle hinged at 2-4-8, but moreover moves the hinge 2 connected to the pivoting of 1 about 15. One further sees, without difiiculty, that it is possible to obtain a considerable raising of the pick in the vibration plane, and that with a single jack per tool.

FIGS. 6 and 7 again reproduce-with the same referencesmost of the elements of FIGS. 1 and 2.

In FIG. 6, one not-ices first of all that the cited hinges 2 and 15 are here concentric, which permits of considerably increasing the solidity of the device.

One then notes that here it is the rod 5 which is hinged at 8 to 1, and that moreover the hinge 4 is along the cylinder 7, preferably adjacent to its centre of gravity. As a result this cylinder is to great extent balanced during the vibration. Further, the raising of the pick causes the mass of the piston and of its rod to rise, so that when the centre of gravity of this mass is above 4, the jack produces at 8 a force of inertia opposed to that arising from the inertia of the lever 1. Whence is derived an excellent possibility of inner dynamic balancing of the vibrating tool-holder, and, as a consequence, a

considerable reduction of the mentioned hydraulic counter-pressure; this permits of having the cited angle 2-8-4, up to nearly 180", that is to say a maximum pivoting of the pick.

In FIG. 7, one sees a particularly favourable arrangement of two tool-holders set out side by side, each of the cylinders being shown in section and swung horizontally for a greater clearness of the drawing.

This FIG. 7 shows first of all that each cited cylinder 7 has two pivots 34 and 35 to form the hinge 4.

One also sees that each of the levers 1 is pivoted on a tube 36 welded to the lever 3 to produce the preceding hinge 2.

This tube in its turn pivots on a shaft 37 integral with the walls 16 of the movable frame so as to form the hinge 15 concentrically with 2.

Since these tool-holders vibrate together, their double levers 3 are integral one with the other, as well as their tube 36 and their shaft 37. One eccentric and one fork rod 38 are sufficient.

It is obvious that thus arranged parallel one to the other, the tool-holders do not hinder each other mutually, whatever the position of their pick.

In FIG. 8, one seeswith the same designations two tool-holders of the last described type and of which the double levers 3 of the preceding examples are merged to form the double walls of a vibrating frame 42 under the action of an unbalanced element kept 39 in rotation. The elements 40 and 41 connect this vibrating frame to the vertically movable frame 16.

Without it being necessary to describe in length the operation and the advantages of this last system, one will merely stress the simplicity thereof.

One finally notes that in view of its properties, the tool-holder according to the inventionor any other variant issuing therefromis of a very general use and permits any group of combinations of opposed and/or parallel picks on a same frame, driven for example by a common vibrator, combinations which a man of the art may easily imagine as following the aim to be attained, for example a universal tamper.

What I claim is:

1. A ballast tamper for a railway track, including at least one vertically movable frame and on which are mounted tools vibrating under the action of a vibrator and controlled to effect a'work stroke corresponding to their approach towards and their movement away from a sleeper, and also controlled to be raised to a withdrawn position within the gauge of the railway, wherein each tool is integral with a first rigid member hinged at two different points, respectively on a second rigid member and on one of the elements of a jack with individual control, this jack being itself also hinged, by its other element, to the second rigid member, the three hinge points forming a triangle solely deformable under the action of the jack, to ensure the work stroke of the tools and the raising of the latter to a withdrawn position, and inversely, this triangle being mechanically connected to the vibrator to be vibrated, and being moveover connected to the movable frame by a connection authorizing this vibration.

2. A tamper according to claim 1, wherein the vibrator is connected to the above mentioned triangle by a connection disposed between this vibrator and the second rigid member.

3. A tamper according to claim 1, wherein the connection between the triangle and the movable frame includes a pivot of one of the said rigid members on the movable frame.

4. A tamper according to claim 1, wherein the connection between the triangle and the movable frame includes a pivot of one of the said rigid members on the movable frame, the pivot of the two rigid members one on the other and the pivot of one of them on the movable frame being coaxial.

5. A tamper according to claim 1, wherein the hinge of the jack on the second rigid member is at a position along the length of this jack, in order to improve the inner dynamic balancing of the system.

6. A tamper according to claim 1 and having tools disposed face to face by groups, the second rigid member being common for each group.

No references cited.

ARTHUR L. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

R. A. BERTSCH, Assistant Examiner. 

1. A BALLAST TAMPER FOR RAILWAY TRACKS, ONCLUDING AT LEAST ONE VERTICALLY MOVABLE FRAME AND ON WHICH ARE MOUNTED TOOLS VIBRATING UNDER THE ACTION OF A VIBRATOR AND CONTROLLED TO EFFECT A WORK STROKE CORRESPONDING TO THEIR APPROACH TOWARDS AND THEIR MOVEMENT AWAY FROM A SLEEPER, AND ALSO CONTROLLED TO BE RAISED TO WITHDRAWN POSITION WITHIN THE GUAGE OF THE RAILWAY, WHEREIN EACH TOOL IS INTEGRAL WITH A FIRST RIGID MEMBER HINGED AT TWO DIFFERENT POINTS, RESPECTIVELY ON A SECOND RIGID MEMBER AND ON ONE OF THE ELEMENTS OF A JACK WITH INDIVIDUAL CONTROL, THIS JACK BEING ITSELF ALSO HINGED, BY ITS OTHER 